LibGuides: New Students Orientation Libguide: Reference Assistance

When Are Reference Librarians Available?

Reference Assistance

A reference librarian and/or student reference assistant will usually be on-duty and available for in-person consultations between 9 AM - 5 PM, with no appointment needed. Just stop by the reference desk to chat. If you would like an appointment outside of our regular reference hours, email lawref@utk.edu and we will do our best to accommodate you.

How Else Can I Get Reference Assistance?

You can email the librarians at lawref@utk.edu and someone will respond during our regular reference hours. You can also call 865-974-3771 during regular reference hours, or leave a voicemail at that number at any time.

We have a chat/IM reference service which is usually staffed between 9 AM - 5 PM Monday-Friday. You can find the orange "chat with a librarian" button by scrolling down a bit on the library website:

You can also use the blue chat icon from the lower right side of the page any time you are searching the library catalog.

Apart from email, telephone, and chat, we also offer Zoom research consultations. Consultations can be scheduled with any of our reference librarians. To personalize your consultation experience, we encourage you to list your research questions when you schedule with our reference team. There is no limitation on the topics of these consultations, as long as they are related to legal research. Whether you are working on a research paper, preparing for your summer job, or having trouble keeping up with the course work, we will be happy to help you through individual consultations.

To schedule a research consultation, you can

1) contact the reference librarian directly;

2) email the shared reference librarian account, lawref@utk.edu.

The librarian who will be meeting with you will schedule the consultation and send you a Zoom invitation and link. For the best results, we encourage attending the consultation on a computer rather than on your phone or tablet.